Due to the gradual depletion of conventional fossil fuels and the environmental impact caused by using fossil fuels, the development of alternative energy sources with low pollution and high electrical efficiency is becoming more and more important.
Among the many kinds of new energy sources being developed, such as solar cells, bioenergy, or fuel cells, fuel cells have attracted much attention due to their high electrical efficiency (about 55%) and low pollution emissions. In contrast to thermal electric power which uses fossil fuel and which also requires multiple energy transformation steps, the chemical energy of fuel cells can be converted directly into electrical energy. Further, the by-product of the fuel cell is essentially water which does not harm the environment.
In the application of a fuel cell, it is necessary to introduce reaction fluid into a fuel cell, such as a fuel or an oxidant. Therefore, the introduction of the reaction fluid may affect the reliability and performance of a fuel cell. Typically, fluid flow field plates disposed on opposite sides of a membrane electrode assembly are adopted to introduce the reaction fluid. However, for a conventional fuel cell fluid flow field plate, flow channels of the fluid flow field plate may be obstructed or damaged due to an external force, which decreases stability and reliability of the fuel cell.
Thus, in order to solve or reduce the problems mentioned above, a novel fluid flow field plate is desired to obtain a stable and reliable fuel cell.